Both bottles were properly stored since release. The fills for both
were low-neck. There were no cork or other issues.

The Freemark Abbey Caberner Bosche 1976 still had a fairly deep
scarlet color with a bit of age showing around the rim. It still is
decent drinking, but likely should be consumed fairly soon. The
typical cassis is still apparent with some notes of spice and herbs.
However a little more prune character than I like is beginning to
show.

The Ridge California Zinfandel Monte Bello 1973 is from two vineyards
at about 1100 to 1500 ft elevation. It is very much a food type of
Zinfandel with 12.6 % alcohol by volume. It is still clean, has enough
acid, and of course has been ready for a long time. Age perhaps has
reduced the fruit a bit, but the spice-like character has become more
complex and intense.

I have just installed a new computer. My old computer was still good
enough for the web, but it is very much outdated for using some of the
newer media programs. Although I looked at Apple, HP, and others I
finally decided on a newly introduced Dell Studio XPS 435 which can be
customized in many ways. It uses the Intel Core i7 processor and 6 GB
of DDR3 SDRAM memory which can be increased up to 24 GB if needed.
This combination usually allows up to 6 threads of computer processing
at once without slowdown. The HDs are 2 1TB ones used in a RAID 1
configuration so that you will not lose data even if one of the HDs
fails. Of course you can store only 1TB of data, since duplication is
necessary to prevent data loss in case of failure of one HD. It also
includes a Blu-ray optical drive that will both play and burn the new
Blu-ray video discs. Such discs will hold about 25 GB for the single
layer type and 50 GB for the double layer type. Besides using Blu-ray
discs for video, they will hold up to about 50 Gb of data. That is
more than the capacity of the HD on many mid range computers about 5
years ago. I have been very busy for a week moving data and files to
the new computer. I now have about 50 of the most important programs
installed and working, but there are quite a few lesser-used programs
to go.